Ethical Wills

“Writing an ethical will is an opportunity to examine our lives, to notice what we hold as precious and meaningful at the core of our beings.

What are the values that we have treasured in our living?

Who are the people who have shown us the way?

How have our mistakes shaped and enlivened us? What are the great questions we have asked in our lives?

What are the answers we have discovered?

Ethical wills–also called legacy letters–are written by men and women of every age, ethnicity, faith tradition, economic circumstance and educational level.

The ethical will process is a different experience, undertaken with a different goal in mind, than developing medical directives and living wills, with which people are typically more familiar. Traditionally, the purpose of an ethical will was to pass on values such as the importance of charity from one generation to the next.